How to Choose the Right Affiliates

The World Wide Web certainly lives up to its name – it’s a web that has spread its tentacles widely over the world. And it’s for this reason that most online marketers go in for affiliates, so that they get the maximum coverage and advertisements for their services and products. The virtual nature of the Internet makes it possible to connect Alaska and Australia by the mere click of a button – an Australian tourist to North America is happy to find a great holiday package in Alaska advertised on a local site, and the bed and breakfast in Alaska is equally happy that they were able to sell their services a whole world away without having to shell out too much money. That’s how wonderful affiliate marketing is.

But then, as with all good things, there’s also a downside to this marketing tool if you’re not careful about whom you choose to be your affiliates. Here’s what you need to worry about when considering potential affiliate marketers:

• Their marketing methods: Some affiliates may mislead customers about the goods and services offered on your site so that they are tempted to click on the banners provided on their site. This is especially possible when you pay them on a pay-per-click basis – the visit to your site does not have to translate to a purchase. When your affiliates adopt this kind of strategy, it’s bound to reflect badly on your business and not on them. You could end up losing customers if you don’t check out your affiliates’ web pages and put a stop to this practice.
• Illegal clicks: You need to figure out a way to find out if the clicks on your ad are genuine or if they’re just being used to generate additional income for your affiliate. Illegal clicks do not have the potential to translate into business for you, so you need to weed them out before you shell out large sums of money for affiliate pages from where they originate.
• Genuineness of the affiliate: It’s best to associate your products, services and business with legitimate and genuine websites that are known for their spam-free and clean operations. If your products are found endorsed on a site that has a shady reputation, it doesn’t matter how popular the site in question is, you’re going to end up being painted with the same brush too. So it’s best to check out the authenticity of your affiliates instead of just looking to see how popular they are.
• Similar interests: While it’s not an absolute necessity, it does help if you choose affiliates who own websites with content that’s connected in some way or related to the kind of products and services that you offer. This way, you can ensure that more clicks translate into purchases.